- What was the most frustrating moment or aspect of what you just played? Losing the plant immediately with a bug.
- What was your favorite moment or aspect of what you just played? I loved the art! I thought all of the pieces were cohesive. I think the pen and ink style works well! I also love that you can do three actions per turn. I haven’t played a game that you can do this but I think it makes players feel more productive and may reduce the feeling of turns being tedious. Overall, the game was well-paced and a good combination of fun and strategic.
- Was there anything you wanted to do that you couldn’t? A board would also be helpful for the draw piles etc. I think it could be cute if it was themed … maybe a market shelf? Pots?
- If you had a magic wand to wave, and you could change, add, or remove anything from the experience, what would it be? More pesticide! Honestly, I think it was a fine amount. If there was more, it might be too easy.
- What should be improved with the next version? I don’t know if it’s necessary to have drawing options for the insects/pesticide. At any point, you could sabotage people easily.
- Describe the game in 3 words. Artsy, PlantMom, Well-Paced
User feedback for my Prototype #2 Baller Bros
- What was the most frustrating moment or aspect of what they just played?
- There is a non-redeeming comeback system, you are able to get a large lead without players being able to catch up.
- What was their favorite moment or aspect of what they just played?
- The bright and colorful aesthetic to the game made it look appealing, such as the colorful ping pong balls and the flame design on the hoops.
- Was there anything that players wanted to do but couldn’t?
- Players wanted to try again with the scoring, since they were unlucky enough to only get one attempt. They also wanted more point options/opportunities to make the game more fun.
- If players had a magic wand to wave, and they could change, add, or remove anything from the experience, what would it be?
- Make a tiny point modifier to increase points, which would raise the stakes. Players also wanted a really hard hoop to score in, potentially a really thin margin for scoring.
- What should be improved with the next version?
- Better rules, more clarification, and a third factor implemented to make the playing experience less linear.
- Describe the game in 3 words.
- Lucky, simple, challenging
Game Maker’s Play Test Notes
- What questions did your players have?
- “We have to bounce the balls twice?”
- “How do we get rid of the ping pong balls?”
- “Does the spinner matter if you are only focusing on getting rid of your ping pong balls?”
- How quickly did they learn to play?
- There was a decent amount of confusion in the instructions, which delayed the learning process. It probably took around 15 minutes for players to understand the mechanics of the game. Once players learned how to play, they gave me suggestions to make the rules more comprehensible.
- What kind of interactions did the players have?
- Players were constantly competing to score more points against each other. They would observe how other people are doing, and either feel relieved the other player missed, or determined to win when the player scored.
- What confused players?
- They were concerned with the number of balls in correlation to the rounds. They also questioned if it was turn-based, or race-based. In other words, they didn’t know if they should wait for other players to take their turn, or rush against others to score.
- What made players excited?
- Players got the most excitement out of their own skill. If they would score the greatest number of points, they would feel ecstatic. Furthermore, players would laugh at others that couldn’t score points, boosting their confidence in securing a win.
- What did your players enjoy doing?
- Some players enjoyed the competition aspect of my game, competing in scoring the greatest number of points. Other players enjoyed engaging in the mechanics, bouncing the balls into the hoops or spinning the wheel. Along with the wheel, a couple people found the “luck” factor of the game intriguing.
- Did any aspect of the game frustrate players?
- There were no clear established aspects that frustrated players. The only things I found that bothered them was understanding the instructions. They also felt that there needed to be more to the game to make it more fun.
Freezing Folly game rules Connor Locke + Reese Edwards
Setup – Players are given a deck of cards which are separated into two piles, a draw pile and a picking pile. Each player also gets their own character, which is placed at the top of the iceberg. To set up the cards, fill in the slots of the card picking grid, face down on the board. Once the grid is filled in for players to pick, separate the remaining cards into a normal pile.
Objectives – The goal of the game is to be the last person/people standing on the iceberg. Relying on your memory, you must choose the proper tools to stay afloat.
Actions to take – The player who is the youngest goes first. During a turn, the player picks a card from the draw pile. Whatever the tool on the card is, the player must rely on their memory of the pick pile grid to choose the right card.
Before the game begins, all of the cards are to be facing up, revealing what they are…This way, players familiarize themselves with where the cards are. It’s all about memory. If the card from the draw pile matches what is selected from the pick pile, the player remains in the same spot they are currently in.
If the cards do not match, the player sinks down one tile on the iceberg. When a card is chosen, if the cards do not match, then the card picked is flipped back over on the grid, and the draw pile card is put at the bottom of the draw deck. If the cards match, the player that chose the right card discards the card from the picking pile and places it in a discard pile.
Ending the game – Once all of the cards have been discarded from the picking pile, the game ends. Whether you are staying afloat on the iceberg or submerged determines whether you have won or lost. Once a player has descended below the water line, they have sunken and lost.
Example #1 – It’s Jimmy’s turn, and he picks a card from the draw pile. The card is a pickaxe, so he must choose a card from the pick pile on what he thinks is a pickaxe. The card he chose didn’t match, so he flipped back over the card.
Trolls Riddle Run – Game Review – Sara Estus
1.) Most Frustrating moment or aspect: The riddles are so clever, and for me, it was more getting moved back during gameplay. I think it happened often enough I was frustrated, but it’s a good part of the game. Nothing unintentional that frustrated me!
2.) Favorite moment or aspect of the game?: I enjoyed the aspect of the chance cards a lot. It spiced things up and it wasn’t all about riddles
3.) Anything you wanted to do that you couldn’t?: Get all the riddles right at the end!! I got the first one right, and then lost at the second, making me go all the way back. 🙁
4.) If you could change anything about the game would you?: I want to clarify that I do not think the riddles should change. I think it is more a player error of not being able to answer them right easily. Though I do think for those players, maybe having levels of cards to pick from could help. But then I fee like everyone would pick easy cards.
5.) What should be improved for the next version?: Add more riddles!
6.) Describe the game in three words: Dad Joke Trolls
player questions for troll riddle run, rotten to the core, and Gideons game(forgot the name)
troll riddle run
- The most frustrating part was getting three riddles right in a row at the end.
- I had a lot of fun telling the others riddles.
- I don’t think we should have to guess a riddle right to start the game.
- If i had a magic wand to change something in this gam( which i do lol) i would make it so you can just start rolling and you don’t have to answer a riddle to start you first turn.
- the riddle at the start.
- troll, riddles, fun.
rotten to the core
- The most frustrating part of this game was the investigation cards, and the spinner not working like it was intended to.
- The art was really cute, and the game itself when at a pretty steady pace.
- I wish i had better luck but other than that no.
- If i had a magic wand id make their be more ways to sabotage other players.
- Make a better spinner.
- cutesy, mindful, demure.
Gideons game
- the most frustrating aspect was it wasn’t entirely finished, some parts were missing and the cards didn’t reflect what was in the rules.
- the chaos of the cards because some were overpowered if you were just playing with the cards and weren’t looking at the rules for every card description.
- stock pile good cards, but it is a fun concept to get a new hand every turn.
- if i had a magic wand i would finish the game.
- making the card descriptions match what was in the rules.
- grenade, rocket launcher, chaos.
trolls riddle run makers notes
- the players didn’t have any questions they understanded it very easily.
- it only took them a turn or 2 to understand the rules.
- telling the riddles to each other.
- the riddles confused players.
- the riddles made players excited.
- the riddles were enjoyable.
- the riddles frustrated them..
Garden Sabotage Playtest at Gaming Marathon
Game Maker’s Play Tests Notes #1
- What questions did your players have? Not really any
- How quickly did they learn to play? Pretty quickly, but there are a lot of little rules and different actions that make it more difficult. I was able to explain the rules faster than it would have taken to learn.
- What kinds of interactions did the players have? Playing bad bugs on each other, trying to prevent each other from reaching 5 objective cards first.
- What confused players? A little bit of confusion with how the pesticide works
- What made players excited? Being able to play a bug card, complete objectives, etc.
- What did your players enjoy doing? Same thing
- Did any aspect of the game frustrate players? Not having any protection over the plants that you have. They could be eaten at any time.
Player Questions #1
- What was the most frustrating moment or aspect of what you just played? Being sabotaged with bugs and losing a plant you planted
- What was your favorite moment or aspect of what you just played? Sweeping the plant cards, sabotaging with bugs.
- Was there anything you wanted to do that you couldn’t? Have protection for my plants with the pesticide
- If you had a magic wand to wave, and you could change, add, or remove anything from the experience, what would it be? Magically hand draw every illustration
- What should be improved with the next version? Specify that you can play the cards in any order, it doesn’t need to be the order that’s on the card.
- Describe the game in 3 words. Strategic, competitive, cute
Potential Changes
- Design the game board to look like plant pots, shelves, or a greenhouse maybe
- Clarify that when dealing cards to players you take it from the top of the pile and not the reserve
- Have names on the back of the cards
- Have more instructions on the cards themselves
- Have a protection over bugs being placed in your garden
- Clarify pesticide rules
- Don’t have the two faceup bugs because it makes it too easy
- Clarify that you can lay down your cards in any order on your player mat
Rotten to the Core Playtests and Game Maker’s Notes
Game Maker’s Play Tests Notes #1
- What questions did your players have? I don’t think the players really had any questions. They understood this game fairly well.
- How quickly did they learn to play? The players learned how to play very quickly, because it has pretty simple mechanics.
- What kinds of interactions did the players have? The interactions between players weren’t really a result of any mechanics but players had fun pointing out who was the most suspicious when they kept landing on investigation.
- What confused players? Some of the cards didn’t make the most sense due to some of our mistakes in creating the cards. For instance, some of the cards made you gain points on the decomposition scale, but in reality, they wouldn’t have really sped up decomposition.
- What made players excited? I think the story behind it made players the most excited. I think the first paragraph really set the scene for what the game was about and they began to imagine the scenarios of how they murdered their victims.
- What did your players enjoy doing? Players enjoyed flipping their booklets and looking at the cute illustrations
- Did any aspect of the game frustrate players? I think it was frustrating to some players to roll Investigation so many times because it was a guaranteed loss of points.
Player Questions #1
- What was the most frustrating moment or aspect of what you just played? There was no point in even picking up the Fungi or Bug cards when you land on Snowy on the spinner, because they aren’t worth any points. If you landed on Snowy and also rolled Fungi or Bug then, it was a waste of time with no points earned.
- What was your favorite moment or aspect of what you just played? I think the game is really cute and enjoyed spinning the spinner and flipping the booklet when I moved onto the next stage of decomposition.
- Was there anything you wanted to do that you couldn’t? I wanted there to be more interaction with the decomposition booklets. Like maybe the bug and fungi cards directly interacted with each other.
- If you had a magic wand to wave, and you could change, add, or remove anything from the experience, what would it be? Create more interactivity with the decomposition booklets besides just flipping the page; how to do that, I’m not sure.
- What should be improved with the next version? Add the possibility of framing other players when you roll Investigation.
- Describe the game in 3 words. Cute, sustainable murderers
Game Maker’s Play Tests Notes #2
- What questions did your players have? I don’t really think the players had many questions
- How quickly did they learn to play? Very quickly
- What kinds of interactions did the players have? In this test, players could frame each other once they obtained 3 investigation cards if they rolled investigation on the die one more time.
- What confused players? The mechanics for framing other players were a little bit confusing, but that was mainly because it was a mechanic quickly thrown in.
- What made players excited? I wouldn’t say that anything particularly excited the players, but the opportunity to frame other players potentially did. They also liked how cute the game is.
- What did your players enjoy doing? The players enjoyed flipping the booklets.
- Did any aspect of the game frustrate players? It was frustrating landing on snowy on the spinner because of the lack of points it gives or landing on investigation so often because you lost points.
Player Questions #2
- What was the most frustrating moment or aspect of what you just played? Landing on investigation so many times.
- What was your favorite moment or aspect of what you just played? I liked having the opportunity to frame other players this time.
- Was there anything you wanted to do that you couldn’t? I still think it would be a good idea to have more interaction with the booklets.
- If you had a magic wand to wave, and you could change, add, or remove anything from the experience, what would it be? Make the booklets feel more necessary, more player interaction and interaction between the different game elements.
- What should be improved with the next version? More interaction with the booklets, build the framing into the mechanics a little bit better.
- Describe the game in 3 words. Love the creators
Ideas & Potential Things to Change
- Change the points earned when it is snowy and you pick up a bug card or fungi card. I think sometimes the points could be 0 for both scenarios, but it shouldn’t be that anytime you roll bugs or mushrooms and land on snowy, it is a wasted turn
- Maybe add type of the decomposition stages to the tombstone
- Add and smooth out mechanics to frame another player
- Maybe add an inter-circle that has a humidity dimension that also alters the bodily decomposition
- This could maybe be a multiplier?
- Change the random events card about the children digging up the body because it just doesn’t make sense
- Probably just get rid of it and replace it with a different scenario
- Maybe add an event at the end of the game to hide the dried remains
- Detachable body parts on the decomp booklets?
- Operation like decomp booklets?
- Add more interaction with the cards and the decomposition booklets
- Maybe play the cards on the booklets?
- Maybe add other faces of the die be things that aren’t cards or come up with another set of cards
- Maybe have some spaces on the decomposition scale that make you do something, gain, or lose points?
- Have a punishment for having a certain amount of investigation cards
- Maybe you are taken in for questioning
- Maybe you go to court? Or jail?
- Maybe you have to skip a turn
- Have some options for turn actions so people aren’t doing the same exact thing every turn
- In the random events rules, remove the thing about having a scale for points
- Decomposition booklet ideas
- Maybe make the decomposition booklets a little smaller
- Make the decomposition booklets flip more easily
- Make them clear with stickers
- Make them like boxes
- Maybe add some blush to the illustrations
- Some think the illustrations could be gorier too
Strike Force Playtest
- What was the most frustrating moment or aspect of what you just played? At first, there was no reason for us to not just play all of our combat cards and almost kill the other players in one turn. I think there needs to be an opportunity for more strategic decisions.
- What was your favorite moment or aspect of what you just played? I liked the pixelated art style. Although this type of game isn’t my favorite, I could see it working for your target audience.
- Was there anything you wanted to do that you couldn’t? I wanted to have a better way to keep track of my HP, rather than just keeping track of it on a piece of paper. I also wanted to have a store of ammo so that it isn’t just deciding how much ammo you want to use and it essentially means nothing because there was no penalty for running out.
- If you had a magic wand to wave, and you could change, add, or remove anything from the experience, what would it be? I would want a lot more strategy in the game.
- What should be improved with the next version? A couple suggestions that I have, in addition to what I already mentioned, would be to include a 3, 2, 1 and then lay down the cards, a better way to keep track of bullets and ammo (physical bullets like in Bang?), make sure that the cards aren’t see-through. I would also work on some of the mechanics so that players can have more strategy. I wonder, too, if there are some fun physical elements that you can incorporate to enhance the experience, aside from the cards.
- Describe the game in 3 words. Competitive, team combat
Game review
Kelsey’s and Grace’s game
Was it fun? Yes I thought it was really simple and fun to play. What made it better is when somebody could not solve a riddle so the players just end up grilling each other. The interactions were funny to be honest, just everyone trying to solve some of the riddles is awesome. I can not talk because I don’t think I got one right. To learn the game it took under two turns for me at least. Honestly everything is very simple and easy to learn and I cant really think on anything that can be improved. You know you did a good job when Owen can’t exploit your game somehow.
Game Maker Notes & I Voted Sticker
Review on Kelsey’s and Grace’s Game
What was the most fruatrating moment or aspect of what you just played? Landing on or crossing through a bridge and not knowing the “correct” answer to a riddle.
What was your favorite moment or aspect of what you just played? Even though I couldn’t solve some of the riddles, I still thought that the concept was fun. I also like that the chance cards caused havoic.
Was there anything you wanted to do that you couldn’t? No, I dont believe so.
If you has a magic wand to wave, and you could change, add, or remove anything from the experience, what would it be? I would never have gotten my second riddle at the end wrong.
What should be improved with the next version? Nothing, keep it just how it is.
Descibe the game in 3 words? Fun, creative, challenging
Review On The Birds and The Beavers – Tori and Evelyn
What was the most fruatrating moment or aspect of what you just played? The game wasn’t frustrating at all.
What was your favorite moment or aspect of what you just played? I loved the space that allowed you to challege players from the other team and who rolled the lowest number lost a life.
Was there anything you wanted to do that you couldn’t? I wanted to be able to trade in the resources that I could not apply to my nest with ones that I could use.
If you has a magic wand to wave, and you could change, add, or remove anything from the experience, what would it be? I would add the ability to be able to trade resources with others or trade in 4 of the same resource for another.
What should be improved with the next version? Addin trading aspects and make itmore clear if you can gain back lives from a player on your team.
Descibe the game in 3 words? Cute, Challenging, Fun
Rules for War of The Survivors- Alana, Kiya, Lauren
BTS
This is how I made the card tiles look in my most recent prototype, Freezing Frolly. Though I did this project with a partner, I may incorporate this design in another solo project that I am going to do for the final (Gallery Grippers)
